VOA时事新闻2023 全球食品市场价格下降?（在线收听）

The global market prices of grains, vegetable, milk-based and other agricultural products have been falling.

谷物、蔬菜、牛奶等农产品的全球市场价格一直在下降。

The price drops, however, have not yet made it to everyday buyers around the world.

然而，降价还没有惠及世界各地的普通买家。

Around the world, food prices are staying painfully high.

在世界各地，食品价格居高不下。

Food prices were already high when Russia invaded Ukraine in February of 2022.

2022年2月俄罗斯入侵乌克兰时，食品价格已经很高了。

The invasion caused major problems to the grain and fertilizer trade.

俄罗斯入侵乌克兰给粮食和化肥贸易造成了重大问题。

Food prices rose quickly.

食品价格快速上涨。

But on a global level, that price shock ended a while ago.

但在全球范围内，这场价格冲击在不久前就结束了。

The United Nations says global food prices have fallen for 12 straight months.

联合国表示，全球食品价格已经连续12个月下跌。

Good harvests in places like Brazil and Russia and a wartime agreement that permitted grain shipments out of the Black Sea helped lead to the drop in food prices.

巴西和俄罗斯等地的丰收以及允许从黑海运出粮食的战时协议帮助导致了食品价格的下降。

Yet, prices at food stores are still rising.

然而，食品店的价格仍在上涨。

And that affects people everywhere, from the United States and Europe to struggling countries in the developing world.

这影响了世界各地的人们，包括美国和欧洲以及发展中国家。

Food prices were 19.5 percent higher in the European Union last month compared to a year earlier and 19.2 percent higher in Britain.

上个月欧盟的食品价格同比上涨了19.5%，英国的食品价格同比上涨了19.2%。

Joseph Glauber is former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

约瑟夫·格劳伯是美国农业部前首席经济学家。

He said that the cost of agricultural products is just one reason for the continued high cost of food.

他说，农产品价格上涨只是食品价格持续高企的原因之一。

In the United States, food prices were up 8.5 percent last month compared to one year earlier.

上个月美国的食品价格同比上涨了8.5%。

Glauber said that "75 percent of the costs are coming after it leaves the farm."

格劳伯说，“75%的成本是在它离开农场后产生的。”

He added, "It's energy costs. It's all the processing costs. All the transportation costs. All the labor costs."

他补充说，“其中包含能源成本、所有的加工成本、所有的运输成本、所有的劳动力成本。”

Food inflation, Glauber said, "will come down, but it's going to come down slowly, largely because these other factors are still running pretty high."

格劳伯说，食品通胀率“将会下降，但下降速度很慢，这主要是因为这些其他因素的成本仍然很高。”

Another reason for high food prices in the United States, observers say, is a wave of mergers that have reduced competition in the food industry.

观察人士表示，美国食品价格高企的另一个原因是，一波并购浪潮削弱了食品行业的竞争。

White House officials last year noted that just four companies control 85 percent of the U.S. beef market.

白宫官员去年指出，仅四家公司就控制了美国牛肉市场85%的份额。

Beef is meat that comes from cows.

牛肉是牛的肉。

Similarly, just four companies control 70 percent of the pork market and 54 percent of the poultry market.

同样，仅四家公司就控制了70%的猪肉市场和54%的禽肉市场。

Pork meat comes from pigs; poultry is meat from birds including chickens and ducks.

猪肉来自猪；禽肉来自禽类，包括鸡和鸭。

Those companies, critics say, can use their market power to raise prices.

批评人士表示，这些公司可以利用它们的市场力量来提高价格。

Glauber, who is now a researcher at the International Food Policy Research Institute, is not sure that mergers are the reason for high food prices.

格劳伯现在是国际食物政策研究所的研究员，他不确定合并是否是食品价格高企的原因。

He agreed that big agribusinesses can bring in profits when prices rise.

他同意，当价格上涨时，大型农业综合企业可以赚取利润。

But things usually even out over time.

但随着时间的推移，事情通常会趋于平衡。

And their earnings go down in other times.

他们的收入在其他时候会下降。

"I couldn't point my finger at the fact that we just have a handful of meat producers," Glauber said.

格劳伯说：“我无法指责我们只有少数几家肉类生产商的事实。”

In other countries, Glauber said, a strong U.S. dollar is to blame for keeping food prices high.

格劳伯说，在其他国家，强势美元是食品价格居高不下的罪魁祸首。

In other high food price times, the dollar was not as strong.

在食品价格高企的其他时期，美元没有那么强势。

Glauber said prices for corn and wheat are given in dollars per ton.

格劳伯说，玉米和小麦的价格是以每吨多少美元计算的。

Because of the strong dollar, people in other countries have not felt the price drops that have shown up in global food markets.

由于强势美元，其他国家的人们没有感受到全球食品市场上出现的价格下跌。

In Hungary, people are increasingly unable to deal with the biggest increases in food prices in the E.U., reaching 45 percent in March.

在匈牙利，人们越来越无法应对欧盟食品价格的最大涨幅，3月，欧盟食品价格涨幅达到45%。

Joszef Varga is a fruit and vegetable seller in Budapest historic Grand Market Hall.

约瑟夫·瓦尔加是布达佩斯历史悠久的大市场大厅的一名水果和蔬菜销售商。

He said wholesale costs have risen by 20 to 30 percent.

他说，批发价格上涨了20%到30%。

All his buyers have felt the increased prices – some more than others.

他的所有买家都感觉到了价格在上涨——有些人感觉更强烈。

"Those with more money in their wallets buy more, and those with less buy less," he said.

他说：“那些钱包里有更多钱的人买得更多，而那些钱更少的人买得更少”。

In Pakistan, store owner Mohammad Ali said some customers are no longer buying meat.

在巴基斯坦，店主穆罕默德·阿里说，一些顾客不再购买肉类。

They buy more vegetables and beans instead.

相反，他们购买更多蔬菜和豆类。

But even the price of vegetables, beans, rice and wheat are up as much as 50 percent.

但即使是蔬菜、豆类、大米和小麦的价格也上涨了50%。

Sitting in her home outside Pakistan's capital of Islamabad, 45-year-old Zubaida Bibi said, "Our life was never easy, but now the price of everything has increased so much that it has become difficult to live."

45岁的Zubaida Bibi坐在巴基斯坦首都伊斯兰堡郊外的家中说：“我们的生活从来都不轻松，但现在所有东西的价格都上涨了这么多，使得生活变得很困难。”

I'm Gregory Stachel.

格雷戈里·施塔赫尔为您播报。